Saraswati was jolted to hear the native tongue of her homeland, and paused before answering. Of course, I spoke in Tharblae. Interesting how I've regressed. Using the dialect felt like putting on a warm, cosy blanket.

"I'm no faerie, kid, I'm a prisoner, just like you." She could see slightly better now, though not with any detail, and noted that the girl had pushed up her shirt to hide her face. She repressed a sigh. "Hey, what's your name? Do you know what's going on?"

Further down the corridor she could hear more voices, which was heartening, but chose to ignore them for now. She wasn't sure her brain was ready to cope with more than one thing at a time yer.

Cybele opened her eyes slowly and yawned, inspecting were she was calmly. She was chained up against the wall in shackles and sat down on the floor in what appeared to be a cell. She attempted moved her arms out of the shackles to no anvil and heard what seemed to be an older female saying: "Oi! Who's there!"!

"Hello!" Said Cybele, in a oddly cheerfully and childish tone. "I'm Cybele!" Cybele beamed a humongous smile. "This place is awfully boring, isn't it? The torture isn't all that special either! I want my money back!" Cybele paused. "Wait... I don't remember paying for anything... Oh oh oh! We've been captured haven't we! Oh, what fun!" Cybele's tone suddenly changed from cheerful, to something dark, troublesome and certainly not childlike. "I simply must return the favor..." He tone returned to its previous state. "But first, we should get out of here! I haven't killed someone in aaaaaaages!"

An interesting, but naive, child. And too damn loud... Madlyn managed to lift herself up a bit and sit down on the floor, inspecting the bars on her cell. They look too sturdy to break down. Maybe I could get the keys from the guards somehow. And have a little fun with them in the meanwhile...

She looked towards Cybele, the young girl looked eager. Doesn't look like anyone I know. And such strange clothes... Well, whatever she does, I must escape. It is I that must return the favor, not this pipsqueak. "Yes, escape. That's something we need to do. I don't want to be tortured for much longer. And this stupid drug makes me unable to escape without trouble."

If she could, she'd be able to use her chains as a makeshift weapon until she'd get her sword back, if she'd get it back. She couldn't be without it. Hopefully it was in tip top shape. She didn't know how long she'd been there, so it was possible that she might have to sharpen it. But it was no time to think about that right now. She needed an escape plan. But she couldn't think too clearly at the moment. Perhaps in a moment she could.

The chat has slowly gotten through to Euandros, the drugs having a somewhat large effect on him, while he was more durable than normal, he had no resistance to drugs. Overall his body ached, he had taken a lot of punishment after the normal torture seemed ineffective against him.

He gently pulls his wrists, feeling the shackles hold them taut against the wall, lightly he smiles, "if only I had more energy," he mutters before turning his gaze to the other captives, deep in their chat.

"Where are we?" he asks, "I mean specifically, rather than just, in a cell or are you all blank as well?" he mutters drowsily.

I'm sure someone must have some idea at least, he thinks to himself, pulling once more at the chains, testing how strongly they are embedded.

"Oh..you, uh. You look like one." Agni said to the other prisoner, relieved that they spoke the same dialect at least. The strange sounds coming from further down the hall unnerved her even more. She tried to pull herself up to a sitting position.

"My name's...Agni. But I have ab-so-lutely no idea what's going on."

As she pulled herself up; she felt dizzy and out of balance. A sensation she'd never felt before. She wondered what they fed her to put her in this state.

Saraswati couldn't ignore the childlike voice extolling the virtues of being locked up, but she tried very hard.

"Ok, Agni, I'm Saraswati. I dunno what's going on either, but I don't like it. How are you feeling?"

She herself was feeling better all the time as her body and mind strove to fight off the drug, but this didn't mean much - she would be surprised if she was running as much as 40% capacity, and there was a strange fog over the part of her mind she usually reached to for her power. She felt strangely naked without it, having relied on it for so long.

A thought struck her - after all, it wouldn't be the first time, in her case...but before she could ask another voice, this one male, joined in, this one in the cell to Agni's right.

Ceaseless pendulation between bleak reality and pitch-black rest, a rest that doesn't seem to ever satiate his weary body, a rest only disturbed by the cold feeling of metal piercing the flesh - only a hallucination of what is to come, a hallucination of what has been happening for days. Time becomes distorted, existence becomes numb, an endless cycle of torture and rest.

Yet, for the first time, clarity is restored. Cornelius' regains his focus and composure and begins contemplating of escape. The first step - get off the damn floor.

"Uggghhh, shit..."

Cornelius steadied himself against the wall. His ears were ringing and his head was throbbing which didn't help him in examining his whereabouts. The impulse to just fall back down and sleep is great. Cornelius often pondered whether this is punishment for his mistakes. A childish thought, he realized now, but - how can he make up for them if he dies here? Mustering what determination he had left, Cornelius started probing the chain and bars for weaknesses. After clearing his senses the buzzing in his ears, Cornelius overheard a conversation a few cells down.

"Blank as a board, mate." Cornelius was relieved to know that there were other people alive here. The thought that someone was in the same mess as he was strangely comforting. However that comfort did not last long, and before Cornelius could intrude on their conversation... heavy boots reverberated through the stony prison. As the heavy footsteps got closer and closer their originator was revealed. One of the prison guards. This is the first time Cornelius saw one without having his perception destroyed by whatever drug he was being given. The clothes identified the man as being a Reeakite. Most likely the prison was also located in the Reeak Kingdoms. Whoever kidnapped me must of had a good reason to come all the way to the Iyou Mountains. But why...

The guard walked past Cornelius' to a cell near top of the corridor. He spat on the ground, wiped his face then snarled at the inmate there. "Oi, brat, Cyrus wants ya. You come with me."

Cybele looked up at the guard as he walked in. "Oh? Is that so? Sadly, I cannot oblige to this invitation... Too bad!" Cybele stood up and began to run around the guard at the highest speed she could muster at that point, wrapping the chain round his legs, then continuing to try to run until his legs were crushed. As the guard cried out in pain Cybele took his keys and sword proceeding to slash his neck open to stop him screaming. She began to hum a little tune to herself as she released herself from her chains. "Ok, lets go!"

Cybele began running from cell to cell at top speed, unlocking them all and releasing the prisoners inside from their chains. "Come on everyone, we best get going quick as can be now!" She shouted as she span the sword in her hand. "We don't want to be captured again do we?" Cybele ran back to Madlyn's cell and bowed. "Hey misses, you should take this sword. You look like you could handle yourself in a fight and I'm feeling a bit tired..." She offered Madlyn the sword, yawning. "Well, do ya want it?"

Feeling some of her strength coming back to her, Madlyn stood up with little difficulty and took the sword. "Thank you, young lady. I will need this." Ah, it's not my sword, but a sword is a sword. It's from the guards, so it should be sharp enough.

She placed the sword aside while she busied with the chains on her for a moment before freeing herself by pulling them apart. Nice to see my strength is coming back to me. No teleporting yet, though. Shame. She grabbed the sword again and walked out of her cell. "Good to be free at last, even if it was a little girl who saved me. We're not out of here yet, though." She wasn't staying to wait for the others and headed to where the guards had usually come from as she best remembered them coming from. She walked around, same looking hallways where she went. No way up, or at least not yet if there was.